A VICTORY for Front National leader Marine Le Pen in the upcoming French presidential election could mean the destruction of Europe, according to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy.

Mr Rajoy, who is leader of the conservative People’s Party, has launched an attack on the leader of the far-right French party.

The 61-year-old who came to power in December 2011 has overseen a turbulent time in Spanish politics with the general election in 2015 ending in deadlock and Mr Rajoy unable to form an majority government, which ushered in another election the following year.

A victory for Ms Le Pen in the French presidential elections this spring as well as the nationalist Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) in September elections in Germany would lead “simply to the destruction of Europe,” Mr Rajoy told the Spanish radio station Onda Cero.

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Front National leader Marine Le Pen

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Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has attacked Marine Le Pen

I don’t even want to think about it, that would be a disaster, it would simply mean the destruction of Europe

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy

He said: “I don’t even want to think about it, that would be a disaster, it would simply mean the destruction of Europe.

“[Le Pen] wants [France] to leave Europe, as if Europe were the source of all misfortunes. I would like it if she visited the rest of the world.”

He added that both parties merely served to create poverty and division and gave his backing to current German Chancellor Angela Merkel of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and backed either the Republican or Socialist parties in France.

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Front National leader Marine Le Pen is hoping to become the next French president

Things you didn't know about Marine Le Pen

Fri, May 5, 2017

Marine Le Pen is a French politician who is the president of the National Front, a national-conservative political party in France and one of its main political forces.

The AfD has campaigned widely on a Eurosceptic platform with one eye on the upcoming federal elections later this year.

The Spanish Prime Minister predicted though that “things will turn out all right” in both Germany and France.

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The hard-line Front National leader Marine Le Pen

On domestic issues Mr Rajoy remained optimistic, especially over unemployment where figures released earlier today showed a fall in the those looking for work which will be welcome news after the country’s economy has largely stagnated and suffered from high levels of unemployment.

Mr Rajoy stated: “In 2019 we want to have a 13 per cent unemployment rate.”